On the seaswept coast of the Delmarva Peninsula in 1980, Brigid Peterson becomes the first woman minister in the town of Sand Hill. At a time when women's roles are shifting and they are beginning to enter the clergy, Brigid's idealism and emerging feminism begin to disrupt her parishioners'world. She befriends Mary Bradley, an artist who has fallen hopelessly in love with an elusive carpenter and is influenced by Mary's belief in the goddess. But when Brigid preaches about the female aspect of God, the church is plunged into turmoil and divides into bitter factions. Sea Level is a story about ordinary small town life, the mystical landscape of the Delmarva Peninsula, and the passions that erupt over conflicts of belief.